It was Kurik.
Sparhawk started to swear.
““What’s the matter?’ Vanion asked him.
‘I’m going to have a long talk with Patriarch Emban, Sparhawk grated. ‘That’s Kurik and Berit in that carriage.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘I’d recognise Kurik a hundred yards away on a dark night. Emban had no right to endanger them like that.’
“it’s too late to do anything about it now. Come along, Sparhawk. I want to go and talk with Martel.’
““Martel?’
‘Maybe we can surprise an answer or two out of him.
Do you think he’s arrogant enough to honour a flag of truce – Just to demonstrate his advantage at this point?’
Sparhawk nodded slowly. ‘Probably. Martel’s ego’S a vast open sore. He’d go through the motions of being honourable even if it involved walking through fire.’
““That’s more or less the way I see HIM too. Let’s go and find out if we’re right, but don’t get so caught up in exchanging insults with him that you forget to keep your eyes open, Sparhawk. What we really want to do is to get a closer look at his army. I need to know if it’s just some rabble he’s scraped together from country fairs and roadside taveRNs or something more serious.’
A commandeered bedsheet – although Vanion did offer to pay the frightened innkeeper for it even as Sparhawk was stripping it from the bed of an upstairs room provided them with a flag of truce. It popped and flapped quite satisfyingly FROM Sparhawk’s lance as the two blackarmoured knights thundered out THROUGH the south gate towards the approaching army. They rode to a hilltop and stopped there. Sparhawk turned Faran slightly so that the stiff breezE caught their improvised flag and blew it out for all to see. Though they were some distance from the van of Martel’s army, Sparhawk could hear distant shouts and commands. The army actually undulated to a stop, and not long after, Martel, accompanied by one of his soldiers, rode out from the midst of their troops. Martel also carried a lance , and a white cape that looked suspiciously like that of a Cyrinic Knight flapped from it. Sparhawk squinted at him. ‘I wonder,’ he mused. ‘Bhelliom brought Ehlana back from the brink of death. I wonder if I could persuade it to do the same for Martel.’
““Why would you want to?’
““So I could kill him again, My Lord. I could make killing Martel over and over again my life’s work with just a little encouragement. ‘
Vanion gave him a very hard look, but he didn’t say anything.
Martel wore a very expensive suit of armour, its cuirass and shoulder-plates embossed with gold and silver and with the steel itself highly burnished. It appeared to be of Deiran forging, and it was much more elegant than the functional armour of the Church Knights. When he was within a few yards of Sparhawk and Vanion, he thrust the butt of his lance into the ground and removed his ornate, white-plumed helmet. His white hair flowed out behind him in the stiff breeze. ‘My Lord,’
he said with exaggerated courtesy, inclining his head to Vanion.
Vanion’s face was icy. He did not speak to the knight be had expelled from the Pandion Order, but motioned Sparhawk forward instead.
“Ah,’ Martel said in a tone that might even have been one of genuine regret, ‘I expected better of you, Vanion,’
Oh well, I’ll talk with Sparhawk instead. Feel free to listen in, if you’d like.’
Sparhawk also drove the butt of his lance into the turf, and he also removed his helmet as he nudged Faran forward.
““You’re looking well, old boy,’ Martel said.
‘You look about the same – except for the fancy armour.
‘I recently had occasion to do some thinking,’ Martel replied. ‘I’ve gathered up a great deal of money in the last several years, but it occurred to me that I wasn’t enjoying it very much. I decided to buy some new toys.
‘That’s a new horse too, isn’t it?’ Sparhawk looked at Martel’s bulky black mount.
““Do you like him? I could get you one from the same stable, if you’d like.”
‘I’ll stick with Faran.’
‘Did you ever civilise that ugly brute?’
‘I sort of like him the way he is. What are your intentions here, Martel?’
‘isn’t it obvious, old boy? I’m going to seize the Holy City. If I were speaking for public approval, I could put a better face on it and use the word “liberate” I suppose, but since we’re such old friends, I suppose I can afford to be frank. To put it in plain terms, Sparhawk, I’m going to march into the Holy City, and, as the saying goes, bend it to my will. ‘
‘You mean you’re going to try, Martel.’
.Who’s going to stop me?’
‘Your own good sense, I hope. You’re a bit deranged, but you’ve never been stupid.’
Martel gave him a mocking half-bow.
.Where did you come up with all the troops on such short notice?’
‘Short notice?’ Martel laughed. ‘You don’t pay much attention to things, do you, Sparhawk? You spent too much time in Jiroch, I’m afraid. All that sun.’ He shuddered.
‘By the way, have you heard from the lovely Lillias lately?’ He threw that in quickly, obviously showing off his knowledge of Sparhawk’s activities for the past several years in the hope of discomfiting his former brother.
‘She was well – last I heard.’ Sparhawk gave no hint that he was at all surprised.
‘I may just take her when this is all over. She’s a significant sort of woman, I noticed. It might amuse me to dally with your former mistress.’
“Get lots of rest, Martel. I don’t really think you’ve got enough stamina for Lillias. You still haven’t answered my question, though.’
““Thought you could answer it for yourself, old boy, now that I’ve nudged your memory a bit. I gathered the Lamorks while I was up there fomenting discord between Baron Alstrom and Count Gerich. The Camorian mercenaries are always available. All” I had to do was pass the word, and they came running. The Renders weren’t that difficult, once’ I’d disposed of Arasham.
Incidentally, he kept croaking the word ‘Ramshorn”
while he was dying. Could that possibly have been that secret word you cooked up? Very pedestrian, Sparhawk.
Most unimaginative. The new spiritual leader of Render is a much easier man to manage.’
‘I’ve met him,’ Sparhawk said shortly. ‘I wish you joy in his companionship.’
‘Oh, Ulesim’s not so bad – as long as you stay upwind of him. Anyway, I landed in Arcium, sacked and burned Coombe and marched on Larium. I must say that Wargun took his own sweet time getting there, though. When he arrived, I rode away and then led him around in circles down in Arsium. It was a way to amuse myself while I was awaiting word of the passing of the revered Cluvonus.
by the way?’
Did you give him a nice funeral?”
‘Fairly standard.’
‘I’m sorry I missed it.’
‘There’s something else you should be sorry about, Martel. Annias isn’t going to be able to pay you. Ehlana’s ‘recovered and cut him off from her treasury again.’
‘Yes, I’d heard about that – from Princess Arissa and her son. I freed them from that cloister as a favour to the Primate of Cimmura. There was a slight misunderstanding while I was releasing them, though, and all the nuns in that cloister died quite suddenly. regrettable, perhaps, but you religious types really shouldn’t become involved in politics, you know. My soldiers also set fire to the cloister as we were riding away. I’ll convey your best wishes to Arissa when I rejoin my troops. She’s been staying in my pavilion since we left Demos. The horrors of her confinement quite unnerved her, and I’ve been sort of offering what comfort I could.’
““That’s one more you owe me, Martel,’ Sparhawk grated.
‘One more what?’
‘Those nuns are another reason for me to kill you.’
feel free to try at any time, old boy. How on earth did you manage to cure Ehlana, though? I was assured down in Render that there was no possible cure.’
‘Your informants were wrong. We found out what the cure was in Dabour. Actually that’s why Sephrenia and I were really there. You might call spoiling your plans there in Arasham’s tent a sort of a bonus.’
‘I was really put out with you about that, you know.’
““How are you going to pay your troops?’
‘Sparhawk,’ Martel said wearily, ‘I’m about to capture the richest city in the world. Have you any idea of how much loot’s available inside the wauls of Chyrellos? My troops joined me eagerly – for no pay at All – just for the chance to browse around in there.
‘I hope they’re ready for a protracted siege, then.’
“it’s not going to take me all that long to get inside, Sparhawk. Annias will open the gates for me.’